


Eyes in The Dark

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: A whole manner of Fun things, Juno and Peter are not yet together in this but it’s implied near the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 13:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21075545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: “You. Sims. What did you do to him?” Nureyev snarled, knives out and eyes burning. Jon lifted his hands in a gesture of peace, getting carefully to his feet. He opened his mouth to explain, to tell Nureyev that Juno would probably be fine.“He loves you.” was what came out instead.





	Eyes in The Dark

“I don’t want to harm you.” the twiggish man before Juno did look genuinely afraid, standing across from him like he wanted very much to keep his distance, “Please, it’s important, just let me pass.”

“I can’t.” Juno said, his voice firm and blaster leveled at the man, whose name was Jonathan Sims and whose status was ‘Active Threat’ according to Alessandra, “If Strong says you’re a danger, I’m trusting her judgement. I’m gonna have to ask you to come with me. Quietly.”

“I can’t do that.” Sims said, frustration warring with caution on his worn face, “I don’t have time to explain, but it is imperative you let me go. There is a very dangerous cult, and they-“

“I don’t wanna hear it, Sims.” Juno cut him off, his voice hard, “I saw that stunt you pulled back there, forcing that guy to spill his trauma like that while you ran-“

“He was in my way, and I can’t afford-“

“You had no right!” Juno snapped, “So you’re gonna stay still and do what I say or you’ll get a blaster shot in the knee, okay?”

“Look, you‘re not leaving me much choice here!” Sims ran a hand through his hair, looking for all the world like a harmless, frazzled librarian. But Juno knew better. Juno had seen the way he’d drawn a personal tragedy from the stranger like it was nothing, seen the way he’d seemed healthier for it, and he be damned if he let this man get away with it. 

“Sorry, Sims.” Juno said, firm and resolute, “You’re coming with me.”

“...Juno Ma’at Steel.” Sims finally said, soft resignation in his voice as he looked at him like he was reading a book, “Thirty nine years old, former police officer, former private detective, former victim of child abuse. Your twin brother Benzaiten was murdered by your abusive mother Sarah, an event that hastened you down a dark path of alcoholism and self-destruct-“

“How the- Who the  _ fuck _ are you!? Stop!” Juno snapped, the hands gripping his blaster starting to shake a little, his head buzzing slightly with some foreign sensation that just felt  _ wrong _ . The man’s eyes seemed to bore into him, and though there seemed to be nothing particularly unique about them, Juno found he couldn’t look directly at them for more than a few seconds before he just couldn’t anymore. He found himself gritting his teeth. 

“I am The Archivist.” Sims said, his voice having grown more authoritative, but no louder, “Let me pass, and I will leave peacefully. Please.” he added softly, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Yeah, well, now I‘m definitely not about to let you walk after whatever the hell you just pulled.” Juno said with a glare, “So looks like we’re both out of luck. So how about you just stay where you are, and don’t move a god damn muscle, alright?”

“I can’t do that.” The Archivist said, and to his credit he did look pained, “Ju-Mister Steel, I have the ability to take any information I want, whether you give it willingly or no. Simply letting me pass will spare us both a great deal, as I cannot help but think your team will also be coming after me even if I get past you.”

“Damn right.”

“Then I must know about them.” Sims said, finality in his voice, “Last chance, Mister Steel. Please.” Juno’s ears began to ring. There was a headache building at the back of his head. 

“I can’t do that.” he said firmly, and The Archivist sighed, closing his eyes in a show of resignation. The ache in Juno’s head intensified enough that he flinched. 

“I’m sorry.” he said simply, and then his eyes opened. 

All of them.

“What are you...” he gasped at the lurch of sudden, blinding terror that overtook him. He fell to his knees with a small cry, trembling hands dropping the blaster. The Archivist was looking at him, and his gaze was like a lance of fire, like the hundreds of cameras at the Kanegawa’s. Constant. Piercing. Inescapable.

“I Know you.” he said darkly, and his eyes were green and black and warped and the world around Juno was twisted and sharp and there were eyes on him from all angles, all seeing, all knowing, all  _ looking _ at him-

He didn’t remember anything after he screamed.

—

Jon hated this. He hated having to do this. He knew Juno now, knew him inside and out. He knew he was just a man trying to do good, trying to make the world better. He didn’t deserve this. Jon knelt by Juno’s prone form, hands shaking and powers hungrily devouring the new knowledge he’d taken. Juno’s eye was open and wide with unseeing terror, his mind trapped within itself by Jon’s power, and Jon knew from experience that it would take him at least several days to find himself again. If he found himself again.

Despite his best efforts, Jon was finding it harder and harder to be gentle these days.

Footsteps approached, familiar ones, fast and light and determined. Peter Nureyev. Jon knew who he was now, thanks to Juno. He also knew that he’d be furious when he saw the state Juno was in. He should run, but it was far too late for that. Nureyev stopped short, and Jon heard the way his breath hitched when he laid eyes on Juno’s situation. 

“J...Juno?” Nureyev called, his voice trembling a little. Juno, predictably didn’t answer, and Jon saw the moment Nureyev’s eyes darkened. 

Oh, he was in trouble.

“You.  _ Sims _ . What did you do to him?” Nureyev snarled, knives out and eyes burning. Jon lifted his hands in a gesture of peace, getting carefully to his feet. He opened his mouth to explain, to tell Nureyev that Juno would probably be fine. 

“He loves you.” was what came out instead. Whatever Nureyev had been expecting, that clearly wasn’t it. He blinked, taken off guard.

“I  _ beg _ your pardon?”

“He’s still in love with you.” Jon continued, the echoes of Juno’s knowledge and pain still fresh, “He’s always loved you. He left you in that hotel room because he wasn’t ready, because he felt he couldn’t do it. I-It was a lot of things, but mostly he didn’t think he was worthy of you.”

“You appear to be privy to a lot of personal information.” Nureyev’s voice was only slightly hoarse, and his gaze had sharpened dangerously. Jon began to wonder if he’d made a mistake, “Information you should not know.”

“That’s all I’m good for.” he said honestly, “But in this case, he was stubborn and would not get out of my way, and I am… well I am in a bit of a rush. I was forced to invade his mind, it was the quickest way to to incapacitate him without destroying him.”

“You  _ what _ ?” he practically hissed, raising his knife as if to throw it. 

“I didn’t want to! He left me no choice.” he defended, hands held out like he was placating a dangerous animal, “People I care about are at risk, and unfortunately there is little I wouldn’t do for them.”

“Unfortunately for you, you’ve just harmed someone  _ I _ care about.” Nureyev growled, black eyes alight with fury, and Jon knew he stood no chance in a fight with this man. Nureyev took a step forward, and Jon did the first thing that came to his mind. He gathered Juno’s recently-gained knowledge, his memories of Nureyev, his love, and he forced them into Nureyev’s mind with a grunt of effort. 

Nureyev  _ screamed _ . He dropped his knife and fell to his knees, clutching his head in a white knuckled grip. Jok felt guilt gnawing at him, but he really did have to go. His friends needed him. Still, he took a moment to kneel beside the two men, hesitantly laying a hand on Nureyev shoulder. 

“You’ll want to look after him.” he said as Nureyev began to recover, gasping for air and shaking his head, “It will take a few days for him to recover himself. I... I know it doesn’t mean much, but... I hope you’ll both be okay.” And then he was gone, darting away before Nureyev could get to his feet. As he left, he Saw the immediate aftermath of his departure. He saw Nureyev clumsily drag himself to kneel beside Juno and lay a shaking hand on his cheek with an aching gentleness, murmuring his name with an expression of anguished tenderness and fear, and Jon felt something in his chest clench at the sight. Against his will, he Knew that Nureyev was going to try and hunt him down after this, fully intending on avenging Juno by flaying Jon alive. 

Jon wouldn’t allow that, but he had other things to worry about now.

—-

Juno remained in that state for a week. A week of Rita chattering by his bedside with a watery smile. A week of Jet humming quietly as he kept Juno’s hair manageable. A week of Nureyev dying inside with every second that Juno’s lone blue eye stayed fixed on the ceiling in an expression of wide-eyed terror that never faded. Buddy and Vespa tried to track the man who had done this down, to no avail. He’d vanished into the proverbial fog, even Strong losing the trail, and somehow Peter knew he’d not be found again so easily.

His head ached. It had been aching all week thanks to whatever Sims had done to him. He’d taken a day when they’d returned to simply lay in the bed beside Juno, sorting out which memories and feelings were his and which belonged to his lady. And oh, Juno _was_ _his_ lady. Peter felt it in his bones with a complete certainty. He felt it in Juno’s memories, in the softness and adoration and _devotion_ saturating them. A memory of himself framed by the setting Martian sun, smiling his devilish smile, unaware then of how Juno’s heart pounded at the sight. Their first kiss, how even then Juno had known this thief had him on lock. Miasma’s tomb, and how the need to protect Peter had driven Juno forward. Looking down at his own face, soft in sleep in an unfamiliar hotel room, Juno nauseas and conflicted even as he tore himself away, telling himself it was for Peter’s own good.

He repaired his own mental compartments that day, storing everything back where it belonged and sorting his feelings from Juno’s. When it was done, it left him with a certainty that both elated him and chilled him to the bone.

Juno Steel loved him. Juno had never stopped loving him. Juno had thought about him every day and genuinely thought Peter was better off without him. Peter wasn’t sure whether to punch him in the face or kiss him senseless. He may just do both. But one thing was clear, he was never letting him go again. Because despite everything, Peter could no more stop loving Juno Steel than time could stop moving. 

As he looked over at his detective, he saw a flash of movement. The first movement all week. He blinked, just once, but it was there. And Nureyev knew he was coming back to them. To him. His heart swelled with hope and devotion, and he laid a gentle hand on Juno’s cheek, thumb stroking under his open eye in soothing motions. 

They had so much to talk about when all this was over and Juno was okay. But for now, Peter was content to hold his hand and wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed so my apologies. Juno’s middle name is not canon but I figured a goddess of truth and justice was pretty fitting


End file.
